I love music, and I'm pretty open to whatever a band is doing, but I have to admit, after hearing a lot of stuff that sounds like other stuff, I am drawn to music that has something different. It doesn't have to be radically differing or jarringly unusual, but some musicians have an ability to synthesize what came before into something distinct.
Enter The Wiyos. I've sung their praises before, and I've been talking up their show this coming Thursday at the Hooker-Dunham Theater to anyone that will listen. For my money, The Wiyos don't sound like anyone else, even though their sound is old-timey, rootsy, bluegrassy, vaudevillian. They've managed to combine these ingredients in a distinct way, and they play with such energy and a thrilling knack for sounding like their teetering on the edge of a cliff, only to pull back at the last minute with shit-eating grins on their faces.
I;ve had their 2007 recording titled "The Wiyos" on my CD player a lot lately, and it's a gem. Tight rhythm, fine musicianship and a set list that channels Bill Monroe and Tin Pan Alley in equal measure, the Wiyos manage to combine a flair for showmanship with a gut-bucket earthiness in a way that is uniquely theirs.
"Midnight Train," "Dying Crapshooters Blues," "Number Nine" and "Caught Us Doing It" are my favorites tracks on that CD; check it out and tell me what yours are.
This sound is already a bit out of date, since they've added a fourth musician, Teddy Weber, to the original trio of Parrish Ellis, Michael Farkas and Joseph "joebass" Dejarnette. They have a new CD in the works, and I suspect those of us in the audience at the Hooker-Dunham Theater in Brattleboro for Thursday's 7:30 p.m. show will hear some new tracks.
All that, and a stage show that I'm told is unbelievably fun. You bet I'm looking forward to it.